Spencer Rego fired a two-hitter as No. 2 Saint Louis edged No. 1 Kamehameha 2-0 on Thursday afternoon at Patsy Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.

Cloudy skies and light tradewinds greeted the teams in what turned out to be a classic pitchers’ duel between Rego and his counterpart, Kaena Kiakona. Rego finished with seven strikeouts and two walks, and also retired the last 10 Warriors en route to a complete-game win.

Kiakona allowed one earned run and scattered five runs over six innings. The southpaw struck out four, walked none and hit three batters. It’s just difficult for every team facing Rego, who brought a load of slurves, sliders and curves early, then pounded the lower zone with fastballs.

“I feel good. We got the win. My team worked hard. I worked hard. We did our jobs. We did everything to the best of our ability and that’s all you can ask for,” Rego said. “It was not my best game. It was kind of slow for me in the beginning. My slider was breaking too much and I had a hard time finding it. Towards the end, my adrenaline was going and my boys had my back.”

Tanner Chun went 2-for-3, including a key RBI single in the sixth inning.

“Kiakona’s a tough guy to face. I just had to shorten up, put the bat on the ball, hit it hard,” the sophomore said. “I got the fastball and I put (it) in play hard. I feel great. It’s a team win.”

Saint Louis improved to 8-1-1 in Interscholastic League of Honolulu play (16-1-1 overall). The Crusaders meet second-place Maryknoll (7-2-1 ILH) on Saturday, then have Damien, Pac-Five and Mid-Pacific next week.

“Honestly, Spencer didn’t have his best stuff, but he kept bulldogging out there. That’s the kind of guy you want. You can go far with guys like that,” Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. “We’ve got to get back to work tomorrow. We’ll work on a couple things for Maryknoll and hopefully play a better game offensively than we did the last time.”

Kamehameha dropped to 6-3 in league play (10-3).

“Both pitchers were outstanding. I know Rego personally, so I’m super proud of him too,” Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa said. “We’re just fans of good baseball. We had energy and straight focus. I’m proud of our team.”

The visiting team, Saint Louis, had runners on base in the first three innings, but was thwarted twice by double plays. Nu‘u Contrades led the game off with an infield single, but Kiakona induced Sean Yamaguchi into a 4-6-3 double play. Xander Sielken was plunked by Kiakona, but the right-hander struck out Aiva Arquette on a breaking ball at the knees to end the inning.

In the top of the second, Saint Louis’ Ryder Okimoto was hit by a Kiakona pitch and Chun singled to left. After a sacrifice bunt by Makamae DuPont, Ryson Waalani flared an opposite-field single to right, scoring Okimoto.

Kiakona then hit Ezekiel Ribuca to load the bases, but Nu‘u Contrades followed with a line drive to third baseman Aukai Kea, who dropped the ball, then fired home to start a 5-2-5 double play.

Saint Louis’ one-run lead was in jeopardy in the bottom of the fourth. Miecah Andres singled with two outs and advanced to second base on a delayed steal — the first off the catcher, Ribuca, who had thrown out two baserunners in the first two innings.

However, Rego battled Dane Palimo‘o in a lengthy at-bat, ending it with a swinging third strike on a curveball.

In the top of the sixth, Aiva Arquette reached base with one out on a fielding error by shortstop Elijah Ickes. After a sacrifice bunt by Okimoto, Chun singled to center, scoring Arquette from second base for a two-run cushion.

The Crusaders nearly scored in the seventh against Kamehameha’s second pitcher, Kodie Ecks Hanawahine. Waalani reached base on an infield error and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Ribuca. Contrades singled to right, but Waalani was thrown out at home plate.

The win is key in the ILH race, but the Crusaders are staying grounded.

“It doesn’t really matter right now. We have a big game Saturday and big games next week,” Arquette said.